Member Reviews
If you loved We Are Never Meeting In Real Life, then I'm almost certain you'll love this too. If you're new to Irby, her brand of personal essays makes for comical escapist reading in these weird times we're living through. The focus of the essays in this collection is, again, similar to that in WANMIRL - married life, life as someone who struggles to function as an adult (can relate) and being a socially awkward introverted person (can relate more often than I'd like to admit). This book won't be for everyone and is better consumed in small doses (as much as I enjoyed it the themes do get pretty repetitive and read more akin to blog posts than actual essays), but brightened my mood throughout the time it took to finish.
I wanted and expected to absolutely love this book. There are some very sharp funny observations on life and some parts of this book that I adored but a lot of this book just felt flat for me. Fun to dip in and out of but I wouldn't read again.
Memoirs and essays are always really difficult to review, because I think how much you enjoy them is very dependant upon how much you relate to the person writing them. I loved We Are Meeting In Real Life, and Wow, No Thank You, is similar in both style and tone. Samantha is very funny, and all of the stories in this new collection are told with her trademark wit. There were lots of laugh out loud moments (and I am very rarely a laugh out loud person). However, I didn't think it was quite as funny as her previous collection, but still very much worth your time.
Bestselling author Samantha Irby is entering her 40's and looking at how life has changed. This book is a series of essays reflecting on her life so far and the things she no longer feels the need to do to impress people. It's a funny, quick and light read. I read this in just under a day but its the ideal kind of book to pick up and put down again as the chapters read like standalone articles. Very enjoyable.
How is it possible that I haven't heard of Samantha Irby before now? She is absolutely a woman after my own heart. "Wow, No Thank You" is a collection of essays which are frank, honest and belly-laugh funny. Irby has quite the way with words! I'm her new biggest fan. Thank you for talking about endometrial ablation and the horrors of middle-age socialising! Amen to all of that shit.
Thank you Netgalley and Faber&Faber for a copy of Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby for review.
Wow, No Thank You was exactly what I needed. Samantha Irby brings the experience of having anxiety as well as IBD to life and makes it so much funnier! Hilarious to read even though living through it is less so. Her description of deciding how much to eat before going to the club so she doesn’t have stomach troubles there is 100% what my 20s were like.
Highly recommend this book and her blog Bitches Gotta Eat if you need a quick read and a laugh.
A delightful and painfully funny book that could not be published at a more timely moment. We need light and laughter in our lives now, and Irby delivers it; and this isn't the kind of candyfloss humour that might grate or seem shallow at such a time. Irby is always willing to explore the absurdist humour of the deeply personal, private, and bodily concerns few writers dare to. This willingness to be naked to the reader (and mad and indignant about life's indignities) is what sets her work apart.
Ahh, what an absolute joy to have Samantha Irby at a time like this. WOW, NO THANK YOU is a quirky, honest, surprising, heartfelt, and utterly hilarious series of essays covering everything from turning and being 40 to literary fame, to homelessness, grief, marriage, anxiety, and the fun of the pre-Facebook Internet, I laughed a lot, and I found myself relating far too much to Irby's thoughts, and nodding along with her stories of coming of age in the grunge-and-sitcom 1990s. Love the design, also. These books are a design delight. Thank you for you opportunity to read.
It's the first book I read by this author and it made laugh and think.
It's well written and I liked the essays and the humour.
Now I have to read the books she wrote as I loved this one.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.
Samantha Irby delivers a series of essays on life as a 40-something married mother of stepchildren in a candid, relatable way with also just the right dash of humour. Essays range from getting the house ready for a night out (relatable, many times I've done the same thing) to reminiscing about classic 90s tunes in a mix tape type set up with stories behind each selection. It really made me want to listen to the songs and remember my own personal tunes from the past.
There's something instantly endearing about Irby's writing that makes her feel like she's speaking to the reader as a friend. She's down to earth, witty and never fails to raise a smile. It's the perfect bit of escapist writing during the current climate, when we really do just need to let go of all that stuff we've been hanging on to. Because I've also realised that I'm just too old to hold on to things that irritate me. There's more important things to be thankful for than having an empty laundry basket.
Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby is a memoir in the form of essays. I didn’t find it as interesting or funny as I was hoping.
The third book by Samantha Irby was my first introduction to her work and I greatly enjoyed it. Being of a similar age, but living across the Atlantic in the UK, it was interesting to compare our cultural touchstones and see how much we had in common. Also, her writing so amusingly about her comfy pyjama-like clothing, Diet Coke habit and unshaven armpits validated my own life choices in a way I appreciated,
Recommended for those who love a good gossip with their friends about life, love and diarrhoea.
Thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for providing a review copy in exchange for honest feedback.